Wheelchair-bound disabled Sergey Matskevich living in Bobruisk filed a lawsuit to court against unitary communal branch road construction and maintenance enterprise for moral damages.

Sergey Matskevich, who because of spinal trauma, since 1989 has been moving around the city by wheelchair, at night on June 22, 2012 together with his wife was moving to Ice Hockey Palace along Uritskogo street on the right side of the sidewalk. He pulled off the curb to the road and started to cross the road at pedestrian crossing. 

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 20-22, one of its results is the outcome document “The future we want”. 

The presentation of documentary “Together” filmed at the initiative of the “Office for the rights of persons with disabilities” took place on the 6th of June. You could see common, from the first sight, Minsk school, its pupils, teachers and parents. But you can’t call it a common one. Integrated classes where children with and without disabilities study together were created on the base of this school. The topic of integrated education, which is very problematic for our society, became the basis of the film and the subject of discussion during the presentation.

The book by writer and journalist Alexander Tomkovich “Overcoming” was published in April. The author told 12 stories about persons with disabilities, who in spite of their diseases, managed to overcome their illnesses and to realize themselves in different spheres of life – sport, carrier, family and children.

The research on some aspects of attitude to persons with disabilities in the Republic of Belarus was held in the period from September 2011 till March 2012 at the initiative of the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities. It was done by Independent institute of socio-economic and political studies (IISEPS) and by Center for European transformation (CET). Research methods – national survey by IISEPS and focus groups by CET.

Khaletskiy Anatoliy Petrovich, 3rd group disabled, applied to the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities in February. He was illegally fired because of his disability. His story is usual for the country but it shows the real situation in relations between employers and employees with disabilities.

Anatoliy Khaletskiy employed to grocery store “Avtozavodskoi” as a sales floor inspector, he submitted all the necessary documents including IPR (individual program of rehabilitation) in which the speciality “inspector” was approved by the medical commission.

Vitebsk joint organization of NGO “Republican association of wheelchair-bound disabled” and the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities held round table “Labour overcomes barriers”. The event was held in the frames of the informational campaign “Accessibility” and was devoted to the problems of employment of persons with disabilities in Vitebsk oblast.

There are more than 500 000 disabled in the Republic of Belarus. May be you don’t have such a person in your family, but look around – it can be your friend, co-worker, neighbor or your child’s classmate, person standing near you in a line in a grocery store. It is every 20th person in the country. How should you behave with them? How not to offend them with heightened attention and helpfulness or vice versa by ostentatious indifference to the problem?

During the meeting “Business opportunities for persons with disabilities in Grodno” the results of the project “Small business – big opportunities” were summarized.

When you leave your apartments look around: Are there many persons with disability in the streets, at work, swimming pools, theatres, cafés? No! And at the same time every 20th citizen of Belarus is a disabled. Where are they all? Why are they not present in our life? Is it because their state of health differs from the “norm”? No! Barriers is the main reason, they prevent them from being among us.